[krakowski40]

What's everyone's opinion on winter and snow performance (AWD) We put a set of snow tires with studs on I will say amazing performance with six inches of fresh snow we lock the AWD and nothing stops us I can't get it to slide or skid We love our little warrior

 

[GeoCanada]

I’m in Alberta - which recently had freezing rain, followed by days of snow, and just two days ago was one of the coldest places on earth, preventing snow clearing… I have to say I am very impressed with the AWD system. I have winter tires, and Seltos has managed way better than expected. I’m never worried about getting stuck or slow starts at intersections. Even on ice around a turn, if it starts to slip, less than a second later it gets back in line.

Honestly just very impressed. Shout out to Magna (a Canadian company) who developed the (new) Dynamax AWD system for Kia. Seems to have done a good job.

 

[dougt]

Here I Colorado I thought it DIDN'T do very well in the aftermath of a 9" snow here this past week, with the stock "M+S" tires... I'll be calling about snow tires.

 

[cansarathy]

I’m in Alberta - which recently had freezing rain, followed by days of snow, and just two days ago was one of the coldest places on earth, preventing snow clearing… I have to say I am very impressed with the AWD system. I have winter tires, and Seltos has managed way better than expected. I’m never worried about getting stuck or slow starts at intersections. Even on ice around a turn, if it starts to slip, less than a second later it gets back in line.

Honestly just very impressed. Shout out to Magna (a Canadian company) who developed the (new) Dynamax AWD system for Kia. Seems to have done a good job.

I live in Alberta too - Edmonton.
I booked the vehicle about month and half and still waiting for it to be delivered to the dealership.

Actually i was worried, because there are not much reviews about seltos winter performance, especially when we live in heavy snowfall locations. Your review really helped me.

Is it a good choice to manage without winter tires?

 

[GeoCanada]

I feel pretty strongly that in Alberta you need winter tires. The temperature alone will impact non-winter tires from being able to remain flexible and therefore reduce grip and traction.
The stock tires are great summer tires, I haven’t used them for winter - nor would I.

 

[Xcalibur255]

The Seltos has the best on-demand AWD system I've ever experienced. Very impressed with it, even on ice. Some of these on demand systems tend to plow the front end on icy roads because the front wheels technically aren't losing grip so they just keep running 100% power to the front. The Dynamax system anticipates this and will push some power to the rear wheels to "push" you around the corner and it works very well. I honestly expected it to feel clumsy off the line given how the dual clutch transmission engages even on dry pavement, but I was pleasantly surprised. It almost drives more smoothly in icy roads then dry ones.

The AWD system is easily the best part of the car and makes this thing a little winter warrior.

 

[Xcalibur255]

The HEATER on the other hand definitely does not feel up to task on very cold Midwestern days. The auto system is both strangely reluctant to actually run the necessary fan speeds to get the cabin warm, and the system in general just doesn't feel like it's blowing any air. It certainly makes a lot of noise, but not very much warmth.

So best AWD + worst heater = mixed bag as far as using this car in the winter.

 

[cansarathy]

The HEATER on the other hand definitely does not feel up to task on very cold Midwestern days. The auto system is both strangely reluctant to actually run the necessary fan speeds to get the cabin warm, and the system in general just doesn't feel like it's blowing any air. It certainly makes a lot of noise, but not very much warmth.

So best AWD + worst heater = mixed bag as far as using this car in the winter.

How is cabin noise?

 

[dougt]

Agree with weak heater - my wife's 2016 base Soul seems much faster re heat. Just put Blizzaks on as I wasn't happy with snow performance here in CO. More to come re Blizzaks...hoping they aren't too noisy though in cabin...as that is another of the Seltos weak points, IMHO.

 

[cansarathy]

I am currently driving Kia optima 2011 EX luxury 2.4L.

Few things I feel lagging in seltos are Cabin Noise which is not much in Optima and the heater. In optima the heater works like a gem. I expected the same in Seltos, but disappointed to know the performance is not at par. Also the sound quality is too good in optima with Infiniti speakers, but in Seltos, we have to choose SX to have better sound quality.

But happy to know that AWD is working well in Seltos. Ultimately safety is more important.

 

[John l]

The Seltos has the best on-demand AWD system I've ever experienced. Very impressed with it, even on ice. Some of these on demand systems tend to plow the front end on icy roads because the front wheels technically aren't losing grip so they just keep running 100% power to the front. The Dynamax system anticipates this and will push some power to the rear wheels to "push" you around the corner and it works very well. I honestly expected it to feel clumsy off the line given how the dual clutch transmission engages even on dry pavement, but I was pleasantly surprised. It almost drives more smoothly in icy roads then dry ones.

The AWD system is easily the best part of the car and makes this thing a little winter warrior.

I wrote off my kia seltos awd parking in a carpark. When my front wheels touched a concrete kerb 6 inches high, the motor revved up and the awd sent me flying over the kerb down. a grassy slope into a busy street. I had no brakes only to be pulled up by a brick pillar and a fence in front of a residential unit on the other side of the street.
I don't understand how the on demand AWD system work. How does the computer know when to rev up the car and apply full power to the AWD.

 

[GeoCanada]

I wrote off my kia seltos awd parking in a carpark. When my front wheels touched a concrete kerb 6 inches high, the motor revved up and the awd sent me flying over the kerb down. a grassy slope into a busy street. I had no brakes only to be pulled up by a brick pillar and a fence in front of a residential unit on the other side of the street.
I don't understand how the on demand AWD system work. How does the computer know when to rev up the car and apply full power to the AWD.

The AWD system doesn’t rev up the engine or add power. It only takes the power that is being provided (gas peddle) and distributes it according.

 

[GeoCanada]

The HEATER on the other hand definitely does not feel up to task on very cold Midwestern days. The auto system is both strangely reluctant to actually run the necessary fan speeds to get the cabin warm, and the system in general just doesn't feel like it's blowing any air. It certainly makes a lot of noise, but not very much warmth.

So best AWD + worst heater = mixed bag as far as using this car in the winter.

Yes I agree. My Forte has an amazing heater. But my Seltos is just okay… but not the strongest heater I’ve had. I also feel it allows cold air it from the door.

 

[Xcalibur255]

Yes I agree. My Forte has an amazing heater. But my Seltos is just okay… but not the strongest heater I’ve had. I also feel it allows cold air it from the door.

Yes, it feels like there is a cold draft coming from the doors, almost as if there is a gap in the weather sealing.

 

[Xcalibur255]

How is cabin noise?

It's a noisy car. But so are all of the little SUVs in this class. I think it's competitive against the vehicles it is cross shopped with, but compared to a modern midsize car it's loud inside. The HVAC fan is louder than average and there is a considerable amount of wind noise. Tire noise depends on the road surface, it ranges from quiet to loud depending on the road composition.

 

[Action123]

This is an odd mixed bag of reviews on the heater.. I have no complaints about mine. Car warms up the cabin as expected. I usually leave it set to 68F during the winter - maybe you guys set it above that quite a bit?

My only gripe is that it allows the temperature to dip just barely too far in Auto mode and then needs to ramp up the fan (which is a little noisy) a few notches to get back to temperature.

AWD system is surprisingly awesome. I use snow tires (Altimax Arctic 12) and I’m very happy with both the deep snow and ice performance.

 

[Xcalibur255]

I have mine set to 80F and it never gets very warm inside. I actually kind of suspect there's an issue with my system because this behavior has been accompanied by a burning plastic smell that has never fully gone away. I really don't want to have it looked at though because the dearlship will remove the entire dashboard and it will all rattle when its put back together.

The HVAC controller knob failed on my Hyundai Veloster and the tech used a flat head screwdriver to pry apart every panel. There were large gouge marks everywhere on the entire dash, and their reaction was basically a shrug and a "well how else are we supposed to get it apart" remark like it's totally normal for your dash to look destroyed after replacing a bad knob.

So the system will have to fail completely before I'll risk that again.

 

[Pourquoi805]

holiday trip to WA State and the Seltos performed like a champ. Granted I have heated seats so I might have a bit of a bias. Using the remote start feature on the app, the Seltos was warmed up and the window defrosted. Granted the lowest temperature was 18 degrees so...

Perhaps a picture -

 

[dougt]

Looks good - is that Steel Gray - that's what I have. And we'll be heading up to WA from CO in April for the next grandkid visit...hope to miss the snow but I'm really happy the way mine is working in the snow with a set of Blizzaks on them... DT

 

[Pourquoi805]

Looks good - is that Steel Gray - that's what I have. And we'll be heading up to WA from CO in April for the next grandkid visit...hope to miss the snow but I'm really happy the way mine is working in the snow with a set of Blizzaks on them... DT

Correct - it is Steel Grey. Looks great in the snow. That picture was taken on some roads that are not maintained by the city or county where my family lives in WA. It is a dirt road that the locals maintain. The AWD handled it perfectly fine.